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BEAD and the cost of conditions
Last month the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that Nebraska had connected one of the first households in the country to broadband…
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Congress wants to retrain workers for the AI economy. The private sector is already doing it
Last week, Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Lori Trahan (D-MA) released a discussion draft of the Great American AI Act, an AI policy framework…
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The EU ran the experiment, America should not repeat it
“I worry a lot about the broad scope and the vague language that [AICOA] contains that I believe would lead to an untold number…
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Trump’s Strait of Hormuz insurance plan gambles with taxpayer dollars
As wars and skirmishes escalate, the risks to commerce increase and are reflected in market prices. In past conflicts, shipping firms faced soaring premiums as…
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Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations at 250
Last week I participated in a National Association of Scholars event on the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. The event…
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The week in regulations: Bone void filler and halibut action
May’s job numbers were strong for the third month in a row, though job growth since Liberation Day remains under 100,000, for a labor force…
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The Economist’s founder and the fight for free trade
My CEI colleagues Iain Murray and Ryan Young wrote in 2018 that tariffs benefit “domestic producers and the politicians they support,” at the expense of “everybody else in the economy.” …
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Section 301 and the problem of limitless tariff justifications
Earlier this week, the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced findings from a series of Section 301 tariff investigations concerning imports allegedly made with forced…
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Free the Economy podcast: State budgets and bailouts with Thomas Savidge
In this week’s episode we cover promising new classroom technology, increasing productivity (and avoiding layoffs) with AI, and the repeal of the…
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The Faster Labor Contracts Act would force workers into unions they never voted for
Unions and their allies in Congress say that the Faster Labor Contracts Act is needed to prevent businesses from endlessly delaying workers’ efforts…
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Clean Air Act reform bills may be on the move: Mostly good, one bad
There are more Clean Air Act (CAA) bills that could be on the move in the House.Tomorrow, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment Subcommittee…
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The week in regulations: Onion marketing and refrigerator leaks
PCE inflation, which the Federal Reserve uses for its interest rate decisions, rose to 3.8 percent, nearly double the Fed’s 2.0 percent target. President Trump…
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The Railway Safety Act would shift freight from safer rails to deadlier roads
More than 36,000 Americans died on US roads in 2025. Fewer than 1,000 died on the rail system. Yet while highway fatalities rarely…
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State legislatures targeting noncompete clauses
At least 15 states have enacted significant restrictions on noncompete agreements, ranging from minimum income thresholds to outright bans. Eight states have passed restrictions…
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Free the Economy podcast: Fighting for freedom with Kent Lassman
In this week’s episode we cover bank privacy, SNAP benefits, a new study on tariffs, and a great new podcast…
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Solving the tariff problem
Over at National Review, I summarize my recent paper making three arguments against tariffs. These are the knowledge problem, the incentive problem, and…
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The inconsistent burdens of the state regulatory patchworks affecting ISPs
As the debate over federal- versus state-driven artificial intelligence (AI) regulation intensifies, many observers emphasize the risks of an emerging state AI patchwork filling…
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Colorado legislature joins Illinois in breaking national payment system
One of the glories of the modern economy is that you can walk into a store anywhere in America, or indeed much of the world,…
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OPFAIL: Establishing a Congressional Office of Political Failure Analysis
For decades, reformers have proposed some version of a Congressional Office of Regulatory Analysis (CORA), a congressional counterpart to the regulatory oversight apparatus housed within…
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Less discretion, more discipline: Three focus areas for Warsh at the Fed
New Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh should focus on three dimensions of reform: how the Fed makes decisions, the size of its market footprint, and…
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The week in regulations: Black boxes and weather reports
The 2026 Federal Register topped 30,000 pages. President Trump’s Justice Department is poised to give him a $1.776 billion fund he can use to reward…
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Railway Safety Act in the balance
Today, the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee is marking up the BUILD America Act — the surface transportation reauthorization bill. Among the amendments under…
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Enemy of affordability: The radical climate agenda
For decades, some lawmakers and other proponents of radical climate policies have given little consideration to the adverse effects on consumers and the poor. Often,…
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Free the Economy podcast: Fighting Medicaid fraud with Parker Thayer
In this week’s episode we cover higher inflation numbers, a strike on the Long Island Rail Road, and new disability tech…
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House subcommittee to hold hearing on forest management bills
On Thursday, May 21, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands will hold a hearing on several bills, many of which would make…
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New CEI paper: Three arguments against tariffs
I have a new paper out today that explores three arguments against tariffs. They are the knowledge problem, the incentive problem, and the impossibility…
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America 250 election year rightsizing: Time to get things undone
The new 2026 Ten Thousand Commandments survey of federal regulation and reform landed at an awkward moment. Election cycles tend to crowd out serious thinking…
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The week in regulations: Date taxes and microreactors
It was nearly a 3,000-page week in the Federal Register, roughly double the usual pace. Year-over-year inflation jumped to 3.8 percent, the worst reading since…
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DOL gets flexible on overtime
The Department of Labor (DOL) will formally reverse a Biden-era rule that expanded the number of workers eligible for overtime on Friday. Courts had…
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How the Bank Holding Company Act helped shape modern banking consolidation
Back in the 1950s, Congress feared a future in which a small number of powerful banking organizations would dominate the financial sector. Policymakers…